Smoked fish is heating up in Greensboro

May 25, 2012

Per Courtney prepares his smoked trout at his home smoke house in Greensboro. Courtney said he has been smoking fish for about 15 years but only recently left his woodworking career to dedicate his time to his culinary interests. / ELLIOT deBRUYN, Free Press

Written by

Cheryl Herrick, Free Press Correspondent

Per Courtney prepares his smoked trout at his home smoke house in Greensboro. Courtney said he has been smoking fish for about 15 years but only recently left his woodworking career to dedicate his time to his culinary interests. / ELLIOT deBRUYN, Free Press

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Per Courtney of Greensboro has been around fish for a long time. And while many folks in Vermont may have never heard of him, growing numbers of customers in New York and Massachusetts have. And they’ve become big fans of his smoked seafood.

Courtney grew up in Massachusetts in the 1970s, the son of a commercial fisherman who brought in lobster, crab and cod.

His career path took him through creative endeavors, including years spent making custom guitars, gold and silver jewelry and fine cabinetry. But through it all, food remained a constant love. And then, when a health crisis struck, it became the path to a new life.

In 2011, he was working on the island of Vieques near Puerto Rico making cabinets and furniture. A bad case of gout made him change course.

“It was July and August and I was working outside with the temperature in the 90s. And I was working there when Tropical Storm Irene hit. I was so sick that I thought it lasted for days. My assistant found me, delirious, and rushed me to the local hospital,” he said. “Somehow they got me to San Juan, and then Jet Blue somehow got me all the way back home to Burlington — just in time for Irene to hit here."

The physical demands of carpentry had taken a toll. He told his wife he had to find something else to do.

“I had always loved to cook and had a talent for it,” he shared recently at a farm and food event at Jay Peak. “I had had an aunt who wanted to send me to culinary school in France because she knew I could really do it.”

He passed up France, but he kept cooking and learning about food, with a special interest in seafood.

“I learned to smoke (fish) by teaching myself, learning what worked well. About how it’s all about the fat content,” Courtney said.

As talked, it became clear that great smoked fish is about a lot more than the fat content. The process involves freezing, thawing and brining the fish in salt, water, sugar molasses and a secret ingredient before smoking it, he said.

“I’m still learning, like with our salmon. It was coming out too mild, so I learned to let it brine for longer until it got the right flavor on its exterior and all through the flesh. It’s the opposite of the calamari, which becomes unspeakably salty if it’s brined more than 15 minutes.”

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He’s been working with four products: Atlantic salmon, sockeye salmon, rainbow trout and calamari. Creamy spreads that incorporate the fish are his wife, Lynette’s, creations. The smoked fish is different from much of what’s on the market; it’s more delicate and less salty, tasting as different from a typical smoked fish as fresh pork does from salami.

The fish is from a cooperative of fishermen out of Portland, Maine, and it’s all taken from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia waters. He says he’d love to get some fresh water fish from Vermont, but it’s too hard to come by.

It’s clear that he’s doing something right, because when people try his product, they tend to buy it, whether they’re buyers for specialty food stores or customers at farmers markets.

“Everybody loves something that we make. We’ve got basically four products and every member of the family wants something. It’s funny to see a teenage girl totter out of a food show on her high heels with a package of smoked fish in her purse, but that’s what happens,” he said, laughing.

And it’s not just teenaged girls, but buyers from Shaw’s supermarkets, Formaggio Kitchen — a specialty cheese shop in Cambridge, Mass., and outlets from all over Vermont that are clamoring for his product.

“City Market, Healthy Living, Hunger Mountain — they all want us. And we’ll get our fish on their shelves by midsummer,” Courtney said. (In the meantime, look for him at Willey’s General Store in Greensboro, at Vermont food shows and at Northeast Kingdom farmers markets)

He’s trying to meet the demand with the help of two employees he hired to learn the ins and outs of the smoking process.

“Even if we don’t make any money, I feel so blessed by life. Without Lynnette, this fish business would not be happening. She gets me out here so people get to know me as “Per the Smoke Man,” he said.

He also pays homage to the man who first gave him a taste for the sea and its bounty.

“I lost my dad a few years ago. I wish he was with me because I know he would love this. I miss him, and I think of him every time I do this.”